The invention relates to the branch of aeronautical engineering and may be used in airborne vehicles, particularly in an airborne vehicle wing, and more particularly, the invention concerns a composite transverse wing rib.
Creation and improvement of airborne vehicles are accompanied by continuous development of an airborne vehicle wing that carries aerodynamic and vibratory multi-cycle loads. An airborne vehicle is considered as the most effective if it is capable of carrying maximum payloads, has minimum weight, low aviation fuel consumption and long-range feature. An airborne vehicle wing should also comply with the requirements of high strength resistance, reliability and efficiency, said airborne vehicle wing being a volumetric long-length construction including an outer casing, longitudinal spars and transverse wing ribs as well as their fastening members. A composite transverse wing rib is a complex construction made as a flat multi-layered panel.
Therefore, the designing of composite transverse wing ribs is performed with maximum use of properties of materials and their effective distribution between load-carrying surfaces.
Known in the art is a composite transverse wing rib made as a flat multilayered panel comprising a flat cellular-ribbed structure in a middle layer and outer layers respectively made of high module yarns and a polymeric binder (U.S. Pat. No. 5,393,588, NPC 423-175, 1995).
Said transverse wing rib construction uses the conventional approach to create it as a multi-layered structure perceiving a load without functional distribution of forces among component members.
Selected as a transverse wing rib in other prior art composite wing structure was a three-layered structure using aluminum honeycomb filler and using an epoxy boroplastic for a casing (Composite Materials, ed. by L. Broutman, R. Krock, vol 3, "Engineering Applications of Composites", ed. by B. Norton, Moscow, Mashinostroenie, 1978, pp. 145-150, FIGS. 10-13).
This structure perceives force loads by outer boro-plastic layers. However, the reliability of joining the boro-plastic layers to the honeycomb filler is problematic because of low strength of adhesives and the imperfection of the honeycomb filler.
Another multi-layered panel comprising outer layers and mutually intersecting and members in a middle layer provides increase of the specific strength and rigidity in non-uniform loading due to introduction of additional rod members to form trihedral prisms and due to fastening the rod members together at intersection nodes (USSR Inventor's Certificate No. 1,107,459, B 64 C 3/26, 1991).
This panel has limited abilities to implement continuous yarn systems for effective operation under tension/compression conditions.
The closest prior art of a composite transverse wing rib is U.S. Pat. No. 5,393,588, NPC 423-175, 1995.
The present Application provides an apparatus for producing a flat cellular-ribbed structure of a composite transverse wing rib. The invention of this apparatus was caused by structural features of the transverse wing rib and operating techniques of producing thereof. The reason to create this apparatus was that the prior art apparatus and producing methods do not allow to produce the transverse wing rib of the present Application.
Known in the art is an apparatus for producing a flat cellular-ribbed structure of a composite transverse wing rib, said apparatus comprising a base having a flat surface with operating pins mounted thereon and yarn placers (USSR Inventor's Certificate No. 880,778, B 24 D 3/02, 1981).
Other prior art apparatus use a base shaped as special mandrels and a yarn placer (B. A. Kalinichev, M. S. Makarov "Namotannyje Stekloplastiki", Moscow, Khimiya, 1986, p.188-204; D. Rosato, C. Grove Jr "Filament Winding", Moskva, Mashinostroyeniye, 1969,p.114-125).
Known in the art also is production of cellular-ribbed structures shaped as composite shells by winding a reinforcing material pre-impregnated with a polymeric binder on a mandrel with enveloping of operating lock pins and equalizing of the tension through rib layers due to moving mandrel sections along a rotation axis of the mandrel by a power mechanism (USSR Inventor's Certificate No. 1,643,171, B 29 C 53/56, 1991 and No. 1,775,309, B 29 C 53/56, 1992).
Said means do not allow to obtain flat cellular-ribbed structures because to produce them a tooling shaped as a body of revolution is used, that is, a mandrel having lock pins mounted at its ends. A tooling of other design is necessary to obtain flat cellular-ribbed structures of a panel type.
The closest prior art of the apparatus for producing a ribbon cellular structure of a transverse wing rib is the technical solution of the Specification to USSR Inventor's Certificate No. 880,778.